Lifting attachment for airships.



EDWARD RIDDLE LATCH 03E THEE-ION PENNSYLVANLQ LIFTING ATTACHMENT FOR AIRSHIPS.

Application filed July 19. 1910.

To all ":72 om it m up concern:

Be ithnown that I, i'lowAao BIDDLE JATCI'I, a citizen of the United Sta I I residing in j illerion, Pennsylvania, have invented certain I Improvements in Lifting Attachments for I Airships, of which the following is a speci I fication. I the object of my invention to provide I I I I I I means whereby a lifting force may be applied to an air ship regardless oi whether such means constitutes the sole lifting device therefor or whether it is merely auxiliary to other agencies for end.

I further desire to provide a littingdo vice particularly applicable to dirigible balloons for the purpose of utilizing a head wind or the current or" air due to the forward movement of t accomplishing the same I no vessel. for the pur- I pose of assisting in raising itor of maintaining it in an elevated position; the invention I contem ilating a simple substantial. and relat-i'vely light apparatus for accomplishing-I the desired ends. These objects and other ad vantagcous ends I I secure as hereinafter set forth, reference I being had to the a I which v Figure l, a vertical section illustrating my invention as applied to or mounted on a portion of the hull of a dirigible balloon or other i'orni of air ship. Fig. 2, is a vertical section on the line u.o,. Fig. l, and Fig. 3, is a vertical section on the line 1-5, Fig. 1. In the above drawings, 1 le ncsei'its a portion of the hull or framework of an air ship on which is rigidly mounted a cylindrical I casing placed with its longitudinal. axis vertical and normally closed at its upper end by an adjustable head 1*. Ill-nailing into i l? this casing cconipanying drawings in the lower portion of one side is an intake conduit t having its end within said casing turned upwardly so as to dis charge in the axial line thereof; the intake of said pipe having any desired construct-ion i and being so placed relatively to the body of I "he air ship in which my invention niount I ed as to receive a current of air due to a head wind. Immediately above the open I end 5 of this conduit 4. is n'iounted a deflector 6, in the present case in the shape of I an inverted cone and supported by braces 6 I from the sides of the. casing or in any other suitable manner.

Below the adjustable head 3 and ll tlle I Epecification of Letters Patent.

a tan 7 having a is exposed to I the ..condui.t 4c and i the casing 2 I port ioned Patented Mar. 2, 1911. Serial No. 572,710.

space between it and the deflector 6 I mount n v desired number of blades or vanes and provide a vertically placed shaft 8 to which power may be delivered from any source such as an electric or other niotor. in the present instance I have shown an electric motor 9 as fixed to this shaft and as IOI'H'BSBHi'lIIg the sour-(fie of power. Suit ablc bearings are provided for the shaft 8, and these, as shown. are of the anti-friction type, so that when power is applied to said shaft, the fan is turned in such a direction as to force any air in the casing 2 down-- wardly; the re-action from such operation tending to raise the fan and w iatever struc tures are attached thereto.

W hen the air ship is moved forward and a head wind, :1 current of air ot a greater or less velocity is delivered to is discharged thereby deflector 6; there thus being in a constantly renewed upwardly delivered body of air which has a. pressure depending upon such velocity. AS a consequcnce, the tau 7 acts against this compressed air s that its lilting power considerabl greater than if th air on which it acted was at normal pressure andat zero" velocity.

in some instances it may be desirable to against the artificially set up a current of air in the conduit 5 and for this purpose I provide it with a lnranch .10 connected to an auxiliary blower ll driven from a motor '12; the main branch i of the conduit being as before noted, led to a point on the air ship at which the eutranee of a current of air due to a head wind is facili ated.

It obvious that the tan Y may be any desired construction and that under certain coiulitions the deflector 6 may be omitted, \Ylilltllil departing from my invention. Further the device as a whole may be so proand constructed as to constitute the sole lifting means of the structure to which it is attached, arid for this purpose the auxiliary tan ll. is made of such size as to condense the air in the casing 2 sutficiently for the fan '7 to properly fulfil its functions.

Under certain conditions of operation the device may be operated with the head 3 partially or wholly open depending on the at which the I force desired, and for the purpose of this ad justnicnt provide it with a suitable valve or speed, I fan is run and on the li in'g 

